~By Sharon Czerwien
Honestly, my brain and body have been a little busy lately. I have also had a bit of writer’s block.
On top of these things, my brain has been dwelling on something health-related with a family member. I have needed to guard my heart from the unnerving worry regarding a procedure that will be impacting my family early this week.
Ironically (because of the writer’s block), I decided to use a portion of my adult Bible study for the blog post this week. The material turned out to be an important reminder to me about WHOM to trust when bumps come into our lives!
Here ya go…here’s a few different portions from chapter 3, Who’s Got This!? (Thanks to my son for the great life lesson!! Since I don't have a picture of the original remote control mentioned below, I thought I'd include this recent picture of my son instead.)
Dinosaur Controls
When my son was in kindergarten, he enjoyed playing with a particular remote-control dinosaur. It was a ‘scary’ tyrannosaurs rex, which came with roaring sound effects and light-up eyes. It was the type of toy where a young boy would be pleased to come suddenly behind his mother and aim to frighten her, just for fun.
He came to me in the kitchen one afternoon, with this treasured toy. He moved it closer and closer to me and made the dinosaur perform its scary sounds in the process. I, of course, had to act frightened.
Then, instead of him continuing to inch the toy closer to me, he proclaimed in a sweet, yet to-the-point, voice, “Momma, DON’T be afraid of the dinosaur. I actually have the controls!”
Life can be scary for us (or at least uncomfortable). Plus, who really has the controls? My son’s comment struck me in a neat way. He reassured me that I did not need to fear because he had the controls.
I immediately thought of God. He is the sovereign, creator God. He has the controls in our circumstances. Life may seem out of control at times, but is it really? We will see in this chapter that God is in control. He is sovereign.
The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary defines the sovereignty of God as being the expression of the supreme rule of God. It has everything to do with God’s control over His created world. I love how Unger states, “Thus understood the sovereignty of God is the great ground of confidence for his people…”[1]
Think about the word confidence for a moment. Confidence has to do with where we put our hope. What is the source from where we can rest easy in this chaotic world? Afterall, in this world we experience many trials and discomfort (which are out of our control). Is our confidence in self-reliance or in a streak of independence? Despite our best efforts to keep our lives under control, the bumps continue. We miss out on peace when we fail to rest in God’s strength and sovereignty. What if, deep down, we truly rested in the Scripture’s teachings on the Sovereignty of God? What if we could take a step back and let God do His thing? I think we could all breathe easier if we did.
Let us consider a few specific Bible passages that clearly teach God’s sovereignty in this world.
1. Job 38-41
In Job 38, we read that God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind. Surely this grabbed Job’s attention. God asked Job question after question about who was in charge. I encourage you to read Job 38-41 straight through and concentrate on the numerous ways where it clearly shows that God is sovereign. One of God’s first questions to Job was “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4). God continues his line of questions through Job 41.
2. Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
“Consider the work of God; For who can make straight what He has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after him.”
Sometimes God provides us with a life of ease. Praise God and be joyful. Yet, when times get difficult, we have an opportunity to consider God’s hand at work. Did you catch how verse 14 says that God is the one appointing the two options: prosperity or adversity? God brings about a variety of life circumstances so that we realize that we are not God, AND we are not the one in charge. We are not promised to see what is headed our way on our life’s road. What an interesting concept to ponder. [2]
3. Psalm 135:6
“Whatever the LORD pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places.”
4. Psalm 104
This whole chapter is a beautiful picture of God’s sovereignty. If you ever need a pick-me-up spiritually, this Psalm is neat and encouraging, and it contains vivid word pictures of His rule over the earth.
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Who knows! I may even include another portion from this chapter in my next blog. There’s a neat historical story about God’s working that will be fun to share.
Anyway, for now...
Let's keep up our faith,
~Sharon
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[1] Merrill F. Unger, The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, ed. R.K. Harrison (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), 1214.
[2] Thanks to my dad (Gregory Christopher) for his preaching through this passage when I was a younger adult.
Scripture quotations from the book were taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) ©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
This blog was from my book, CORE: Biblical Principles for When Life Gets Bumpy.
My children's version is Bumps are Okay for KIDS and Other Biblical Lessons Learned from Monster Trucks!
Isn’t it ‘amazing’ how often we unnecessarily make things more difficult than we need to just by forgetting that God truly has this.
Great verses to turn to!